The Audacity of Being Myself & Embracing My Purpose

If you are an influencer you probably already heard this, if you are not, I’m sharing my excitement and my thoughts about this BIG step with all of you. I recently ended my full-time employment to fully dedicate to my mission. A step many feel is risky, crazy even, and that I know it is the beginning of a wonderful journey. The reactions made me think about the audacity of being myself, especially in the midst of change.

As cliché as it may sound being oneself is not easy, especially as we age, grow and transform. When I first moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan with my sister back in 2004, I remember meeting a friend of her, her husband and two kids. They lived in a two-bedroom apartment and the children were 11 and 9. When we visited them, I was surprised to see that the second bedroom of the house was used as a common area and that the 4 of them all slept together in the same room.

I remember talking to my sister about how “weird” that was, especially because the kids were not little and they had the space, so it wasn’t a matter of not having another bedroom. Back then I had never heard of co-sleeping, and had only one idea of parenting from growing up in the Dominican Republic. Fast forward to 2016 and to the surprised of many, I became the weird co-sleeping mom of three children.

As an adult, I’ve learned, after all the obvious physical changes of childhood and puberty have happened, it becomes harder for people to understand your behavior, especially those who know you the longest, because in their mind you continue to be the person they remember, even when you have changed. That’s why I want to celebrate the audacity of being myself, and want to share this new journey with you as I take a new route, and solidify my identity as an adult that is still growing. I hope that, whatever you do, you celebrate being yourself too.

Due to the work I do as a multicultural, diversity and inclusion expert, it comes very natural to me to embrace differences and wanting to experience different perspectives and inputs. While doing that I have made a commitment to show without fear, how far the audacity of being myself can take me. Not as something that people “should” follow or do the same way I do it, but as a way to stay true to myself, my work-in-progress self, the one who is embracing her purpose, and is evolving by leaning into the discomfort.

I Quit My Job, So What?

Many people quit their jobs and the do for so many different reasons that this is really something that might seem not relevant. In my case, it may come as a surprise to many because I had a great experience working for Colectiva Latina, the Latino Network of Collective Bias. Moreover, I’m really grateful to Paula Bendfeldt, who was my boss, for giving me that opportunity, for being generous with her knowledge and her leadership. I had a great experience, but it was time for me to leave the comfort zone and fully dedicate to my platform.

As I shared with you a few months back, I’m committed to raise cultural awareness in order to generate the changes we need to see in our society. With the results of the election, the need to understand each other and build a new American identity based on equality, respect and love became not only more evident, but a much pressing matter.

Going through the process of creating my new logo, platform and brand has been a life-changing experience, one that aligns my values, my desire to leave a legacy to my American Latino children with the passion of helping others and giving voice to those who are unable to advocate for themselves. It has been a transformative ride, one that has allow me the audacity of being myself in the greatest, most daring way.

The only step left was to leap, to believe wholeheartedly that dedicating my efforts to what I believe in it’s not only worth it, but necessary to be the change agent I want and ought to be. As Steve Jobs said, “the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” I’ve never being known to be sane, so it’s off to change the world!

Where You Come In…

If you know any change agent you probably know that we love bringing people along for the ride. Also, as an entrepreneur, I count on each one of you for support in different ways. Please be aware that I’m not talking about blind support, or I’m your friend I need to buy from you kind of support. I’m talking about you supporting me when you see value, when the messages, programs and talks speak to you and you believe they are worth investing on and sharing with everyone you know.

Most importantly, I count on you to be candid with me, to give me feedback where you see I can improve, or providing ideas of things you’d like to see in my platform, through my channels. I’m open, willing and excited to hear from you in any way you choose to do it, commenting here, on my social channels or simply sending me an email.

Other ways you can support me are…

By getting my bilingual children’s book ‘La Familia Cool: El Tesoro Más Valioso / The Most Valuable Treasure’, available on Amazon.

Hiring me to speak for your organization on the subjects of multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, and/or recommend me to those organizations you know are in need of this kind of training and presentations.

Interview me for your podcast, magazine, newspaper, newsletter or any other media outlet.

Follow and interact with me on social media, I’d love to know your perspective on how we can all work together to create a multicultural society.

Also, I’d love to know what you think about this step and which things you’d like to see me doing through my platform.

[dania]